We're Sorry
by Thisisfunwhattooksolong
Summary: At the end of the film, there's a distinct impression that there's some apologies that need to be made.
1. Mal's long day

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to Descendants, or for that matter any of the DAC, Aaron Stone or anything else that was featured in the film.

 **An:** To my dear friends, aka challengers, I'm afraid owing to technical issues I'm unable to complete this month's challenge (the unfinished draft's on my not working desktop) but I hope you'll accept this botch job of part 1 to tide you over. I also apologise for any typos; with the thing I'm using now my handspan is wider than the keyboard which makes typing a bit tricky.

I can't remember the exact terms of the challenge off by heart by the gist was, at the end of the film there are many apologies that need to be made. Make them.

* * *

It had been a long day and all Mal wanted was to lie down and go to sleep, however fate was not on her side. She'd slipped away from the dance party after only two dances, steadfastly refused to attend the after party down by the death tra... no, it was called a 'swimming pool', and tried to return to her room as quickly as possible. Except the side door she chose was looked and she suspected hexing it open was not the good thing to do, which meant she'd be going the long way.

Even that might have been OK however since the place was practically deserted. She'd made it past the main door, down the corridor, even past her locker encountering no one, but then her luck ran out.

"Mal, Mal!" Looking over she saw a surprised Lonnie call her, emerging from a side room that Mal had thought was a boys' bathroom, which showed what she knew of the school's geography. Lonnie was one of the people Mal expressly wished not to see (along with Chad, Belle and a couple of others).

"What do you want Lonnie?" Irritation gripped her voice, though there was a hint of worry. A week earlier she'd hoped, no, honestly believed that they were friends and now... at the very least she wanted to retract the cool hair blessing. This was why she'd thought friendship a weakness. She knew now that she'd been wrong of course, friends were the greatest blessings in the world (that she knew of), as long as they're truly friends. But Mal believed she had seen enough to know Lonnie fell into the 'fair weather friend' variety that weren't.

"Um, well, uh, I was hoping we could talk? Is that OK?" Lonnie placed her hand on Mal's, which she instantly threw off.

"I don't know, say something and we'll see." Mal was still heading for her room as quickly as her unwieldy coronation dress would allow (said dress being another reason she wasn't enjoying dancing), but Lonnie had little difficulty keeping up, largely because the dress was so cumbersome.

"OK. Oh my, this is hard." Lonnie spun around so she was in front of Mal and blocking her. "Just, please hear me out."

Mal really didn't think Lonnie deserved even that, but she could bear it if it would get the conversation over with. She nodded. Lonnie gulped and took some deep breaths.

"Just as my father came to regret his abandoning of my mother in the mountains, I too have abandoned someone and I deeply regret it." There were tears starting to form in Lonnie's eyes as she took in Mal's blank face.

"Stop with all the fancy dressing and say what you mean." Mal's irritation was growing. Lonnie gulped again.

"I'm so sorry Mal."

Mal blinked a couple of times. "Wait, what?"

"I'm sorry." Lonnie was now full on sobbing. "I wasn't there for you (hic) last week, I wasn't any help to you today (hic), I'm a (hic), a sucky friend." Lonnie flung her arms around Mal, who struggled to get out.

Privately Mal thought there was no argument there, but she wasn't going to grace Lonnie even with an agreement.

"Please forgive me."

Mal stiffened in her grip, not sure of what to say. Or even what she wanted to say.

"Say something, please." Lonnie looked at the floor, making Mal wonder if she looked that intimidating. "Yell at me if you like. In fact, punch me if you like. Whatever you feel the need to do, just do it," she begged, finally releasing her vice grip and dropping to her knees.

Mal continued thinking long and hard. The good thing to do would be to accept Lonnie's apology and try to be friends again, but even if she could do that she wasn't certain said apology was sincere.

"I haven't changed in this last week Lonnie, and it's easy to like us now we're the land's newest heroes," Mal said after a while, Lonnie instantly staring into her eyes, begging. "Had we been having this conversation yesterday or this morning or any time between the weekend and around three hours ago then I'd have welcomed you with open arms. As it is, I wonder if you'd be kneeling here had my mother not shown up, and I fear that's a resounding no."

Lonnie got back to her feet, utterly dejected. "I don't know what I can say. I spoke to my dad the other day you know, and he suggested I should speak to you, but thought you might be busy preparing for the coronation and I should wait til afterwards. I wish I hadn't listened. Is there any way you can believe me?"

"Believe you. Believe you!" Mal was starting to scream. "I trusted you." Despite her legendary resolve, Mal too found herself crying.

"You trusted me?" Lonnie asked, surprise appearing on her face.

"Oh yes. I really thought we were friends, but it turned out I was wrong about that." Now it was Mal's turn to grip-hug Lonnie, though only because Lonnie was the only one available. "I thought you'd have my back in a fight."

"You know if we weren't all stunned everyone in that room would've fought to the death to stop your mother, right?"

"Oh yes, attacking the heroes directly when they're all together was always going to cause that." Mal gave a shrill laugh. "No Lonnie, I had to worry about her coming after me specifically - that when school finished and everyone else went back to their big fancy castles, her wrath would fall on me for disappointing her. And I'd have no one helping me then. No one to save me. No one to... never mind that. Luckily, Ben liked me and I could trust he'd do anything to keep that from happening. Otherwise I'd have probably helped mother, not out of villainy but out of fear. After all, those heroes had made their opinion of me very clear. They may well be valiant but I seriously question if they're as good as they like to claim."

"Oh Mal." For a minute they stood in the hallway, just hugging, before Mal pulled loose and started heading for her room again.

"So to answer your question Lonnie, I can, how do you say it, put water under the bridge, but I cannot truly be your friend, at least not now."

"I understand." Lonnie's voice was weak but loud enough to travel in the deserted corridor, however Mal also became aware of sounds from ahead of them, specifically from her room. She hurried as fast as her uncooperative dress would allow, Lonnie close beside her, and burst in to a more crowded than she expected room, several heads turning to her. There was Evie sat on her bed, Audrey and Doug over by Mal's own bed and a man Mal didn't recognise but felt she should have stood by Evie. Oh, and a certain shrunk evil fairy in a container against the far wall.

"Hey Mal, Lonnie," said Audrey tentatively.

"Oh hello." Doug put in before turning his (worried) gaze back to Evie.

Evie however just stuck her arms out and gestured to Mal, who almost ran into her, muttering a quick "hi" to their guests. Evie too looked like she'd been crying earlier with mascara tracks running down her cheeks.

"Alright, what have you done to her?" Mal asked the group, but especially Doug; Mal didn't think Evie respected Audrey's opinion enough to cry at anything she'd do and she still wasn't sure who the other one was.

"That's what we've been trying to figure out," began Audrey.

"Yeah, everything was going swimmingly, then she said and I quote 'sorry, I'm afraid I can't' and ran off," Doug finished.

Lonnie meanwhile had found the cage and reached out to touch its occupant...

"No!" Mal yelled. The man was faster and in a split second he had yanked Lonnie back, whereupon she tripped over a shoe before falling backwards onto Mal's bed.

"What, she's just a tiny lizard, right?" Lonnie asked.

"Just because something's smaller than you doesn't mean it can't sting deep." The man spoke for the first time since Mal arrived. "She" he gestured to the cage, "learned that from me, and I'd like to think I left a lasting impression."

* * *

 **An:** Well, what did you think?

This was supposed to be the first of five, but given my PC's non-working state who knows if or when the others will be done.


	2. Of Audrey and Evie (and Doug)

**AN:\** Ok, hard to believe, I know, but I've managed to get my computer (sort of) working and set about trying to get the chapter two draft into some sort of workable condition. As this was the chapter that I was happiest with. And it took a month. The full time the whole thing should've taken.

Still, though it took far longer than it should have I did manage to get it done, which feels like something of a miracle at the moment.

And yes Silverwolf it is Philip.

* * *

To anyone looking her way at that exact second, Audrey appeared the pinnacle happiness, sat on the steps with her father's arm round her. Inside however she was feeling a complete mess, as guilt threatened to overwhelm her at every second.

Over the past few weeks, Audrey had become aware of a series of mistakes, no, failings, that she'd made. Her conduct had been less than perfect, and while some of that was with the best of intentions, she couldn't deny a baser side to the rest.

First, and most obvious to casual onlookers, she'd failed one of her friends so completely that she didn't know what she could do about it. She had apologised for laughing at Jane following her unfortunate 'demakeover' and her apology had been accepted, but it was clear now that while Jane had forgiven the insult, she'd totally missed the point that said makeover wasn't needed (though she suspected that being insulted on world television by Snow White hadn't helped matters).

She knew she was, barring her mother and (possibly) some of the other royalty, the worst person in the world to have that conversation with, but even so she thought Jane had understood it. Or she liked to think that rather; had she focused less on how her own hair looked from the back and more on Jane during that talk, she might've realised that her constant fidgeting and the way her eyes never left the floor meant she wasn't able to believe what she was being told. And the fault there was all the greater because though most people wouldn't believe it, she understood exactly how Jane felt; when she was 12 she invited a boy she kinda liked over to her castle, and said boy took one look at her mother and fell head over heels.

She knew it wasn't her mother's fault that people preferred her, it was Maleficent putting a spell (Charm? Curse? Geas?) on her that among other things she would be 'beloved by all who know her', and it hadn't bothered her for some time, but she certainly understood how Jane felt. Yet she had done the bare minimum with catastrophic consequences.

Her next failing, made the same day as the other one, was that after a _long_ discussion about how evil a certain trio of their fellow students were, and how their king-to-be (who she still couldn't think about with anything approaching magnanimity) was an imbecile for not seeing it, someone, possibly Jane, possibly Lonnie, possibly anybody really had pointed out that their 'villains' were in fact a quartet and asked if anyone could find fault with Carlos – which got a resounding silence.

Her, indeed _their_ assessment of Mal, Evie and Jay may have been wrong, but it fell squarely under the 'with the best of intentions' category. That nobody tried to extract Carlos from what they honestly believed was a bad crowd could be summarised as 'too much like hard work; can't be bothered', and that was a greater sin by far.

Also on that day, she'd had to acknowledge an earlier mistake, made out of her own selfishness. For the duty of showing the newcomers around was at least in part hers, and because she'd wanted to squeeze in some extra time with… no, she still couldn't bare to say the name, even within her own head, she'd palmed them off on Doug, and by leaving him to deal with them alone she'd set him up to fail; abandoned him when he needed the support of someone who wasn't a mortal enemy. Without said support Doug had ended up utterly heartbroken and try as she might there was nothing she'd been able to do to help.

What had really thrown her mind into upheaval was that it was unneeded, because as much as it pained her to admit, she was wrong. While contrary to popular belief she was sure, she hadn't wanted or hoped that they would be evil and villainous, she had seen it as an inevitability based on two things: Firstly that magic and fairy magic in particular was evil (and why her parents kept standing up for the trio despite always reiterating how much they disliked it she still didn't understand) and secondly that shortly after meeting them she deduced that their manners and etiquette were not suitable for high society, completely forgetting that the same applied to the vast majority of the population yet most of them weren't evil.

She was interrupted from her reverie by one of them appearing in front of her.

"Um, excuse me, do you have a moment?" Evie was shaking slightly and while it was getting chilly Audrey had a feeling she was nervous.

"Is there a problem Evie?" she asked.

"Actually I was wondering if I could talk to your father." That surprised her – as far as she knew they'd never spoken before. It was another guilty moment for Audrey as she realised that 'never spoken before' was one of the more positive relationship histories Evie had with anyone in royalty.

The arm that was wrapped over her shifted slightly as her father leaned around.

"What do you need?" he asked, his voice soft.

"Well, I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but I was hoping you could tell me about your wedding?"

Whatever Audrey thought Evie would want to discuss, it wasn't that.

"Well, let's see, we came down the stairs together, two of the fairies kept changing her dress between pink and blue-"

"No, sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant something before the wedding. In the words of my mother 'the Princess's relationship was damaged beyond conceivable repair, than Maleficent waltzed along and fixed it for her.' What did she mean?"

Audrey felt her father tense up next to her.

"Right. I don't know how much of this you know but when I was about 5 or so my father set up an arranged marriage with a neighbouring king. Fast forward just short of 16 years and the day before the wedding I fell for a peasant girl in the forest. With me so far?"

"And how did your father react?"

"Not well. We had a huge argument over it and I left the city, heading straight for my sweet Briar Rose."

"Briar Rose?" Evie asked.

"That's what he and the fairies call mother. It drives Grandma crazy for a reason we won't be going into." Audrey replied, still trying to figure out where this conversation was going. Years ago when Audrey had asked him why he called her that he'd told her that 'Princess Aurora is a baby I can barely remember, Briar Rose is the woman I fell in love with'.

"Anyway, I arrived at her home, got ambushed, and then Maleficent told me where she was sleeping. She said it was her intention to free me after a century as on old and decrepit man but as it was I got rescued after about half an hour, not that it would've worked – it's been rather more than a century since then and I'm not so decrepit yet. But that's off topic, and unusual circumstances, yes, strictly speaking, it could be argued that Maleficent fixed our relationship, as I'd have never found her otherwise."

Evie was fidgeting. "So just to be absolutely clear, when you fell for the princess you were in fact under the belief she wasn't a princess?"

"Yes," he replied. Audrey felt she'd finally grasped what Evie was getting it.

"Father, if I may, I think what she's is trying to ask but doesn't have the nerve is, if I were to fall madly in love with your castle's chief stable-hand would you be happy for us, and should I care?"

"Audrey he's fifty three." It took a lot to leave her father looking scandalised, but somehow she'd managed. "Has he been trying it with you? I'll have a warhorse knock him over and crush a _certain_ part of his anatomy into dust."

"No, no, it was just a hypothetical example. A hypothetical bad example as it turned out but hypothetical none the less. Replace him with a random young man, able to have children so the kingdom could have an heir but not planning it for a while yet, for which the only objection is being low born, base born or like Evie here, prison born."

Her fathers response kept her from seeing Evie's reaction to being described in that manner.

"Well, I'd probably insist that you both be checked for all forms of hypnosis and ensorcellment but assuming you passed that, I'd be happy for you and I'd hope you'd be happy for yourself too, though I fear not." Her father then turned back to Evie before Audrey could ask for clarification on that last bit. "If we're going to continue this conversation I'm going to have to ask you a few questions and I need you to reply honestly, OK?"

"OK." Evie nodded.

"Did your mother only let you come here in the hopes that you'd get a prince?"

Evie hesitated for a moment. "Not the _only_ reason, but a very big one."

"And have you taken any notice of it?"

"Well, I flirted once with Ben when I arrived but he clearly wasn't interested so not again…"

Audrey noted she kept the 'and dating your daughter at the time' part out of it. Then again, she thought to herself, it was possible that Evie didn't realise they were together until after that.

"Then I thought I was with Chad until Audrey kissed him."

Audrey forced herself not to scowl. She'd heard that from Jane and Lonnie too but she hadn't truly believed it. After all, Chad spent all his free time telling her and Ben (and anyone else who'd listen) how much he disliked Evie and her fellow villains. However, he did have a reputation for messing girls around, he was after all caught on camera having a different girl for every subject in the curriculum, indeed the only reason she herself was willing to date him was to take her mind off Ben.

And she realised that her internal monologue had just given his name without her crying.

She became aware that her father had a raised eyebrow in her direction but Evie continuing meant she didn't have to deal with him just yet.

"And then I realised I was falling for Doug and I didn't know what to do about it because he's notably not a prince, and then before I had a hope of figuring it out everything went to hell, I'm sure your mother-in-law explained that part in exquisite detail already. And that's basically it."

Her father turned back to Evie again. "You know, Evie was it?" she nodded. "There are a few things I could say at this point. But first, Audrey, I think you should say something here."

He was right of course. Audrey's sense of guilt was back again in a major way.

"Evie," she began, "I just want you to know that I would not have grabbed Chad if I thought you were together, nor would I have let him lead you on in the first place, since I still don't know just how it was between you. Chad, while a great friend and a great kisser is not someone you want to be in a loving relationship with. There's a video somewhere of the dozen or so girls he was dating finding out about each other. I assumed you knew."

"We don't exactly get many videos where I come from. Celebrity gossip on the isle is barely any more current than Mulan leaving a prince at the alter, for which by the way my mother said she was 'a pathetic, stupid, unworthy excuse for a woman, as she'd disgraced herself too far to use the term lady'. Sorry, getting side tracked, where were we?"

"Are you mad at me?" Audrey asked nervously.

"At you, not so much. At Chad, yes."

"Well, Evie, do you really like Doug? Because if so you shouldn't let your mother tell you that you shouldn't. He's a decent enough guy, nothing particularly wrong with him." Audrey both wanted and dreaded to know the answer to this. Both answers carried their own problems, and the set of problems to at least one answer were in part her fault – if Evie really did like him, then it was her duty to fix it.

"I..." Evie faltered. "I do, or at least I did a week ago, but now, I'm really not sure I can trust him."

Her father looked confused.

"There's a missing link I'm not seeing here. Then again, this was never my kind of conversation."

Audrey gave him an exasperated look, this was obvious to her.

"How did he go from encouraging me to be a better person to abandoning me in the span of five minutes? How can I trust him again?"

"As to the how, have you considered asking him?"

This time Audrey and Evie gave her father incredulous looks.

"Evie, would it help if I told you what a complete mess he was after that?"

"He's had a week to apologise if he missed me that badly. I haven't gone anywhere."

"He barely slept, barely ate... frankly we were really worried about him. Nothing any of us said could cheer him up and none of us knew what to do. He didn't apologise because we were telling him that he was better off without you, because we honestly believed you were evil, and while he didn't want to believe us he couldn't bring himself not to. Chad's always had that effect on Doug. Sorry?" Audrey winced, but she knew that would have to come up at some point.

Evie seemed unsure for a moment but Audrey had little time to relax, for this time it was her father giving _her_ a stunned look.

"So you were worried about Doug and you couldn't help him? What was the next chapter in Doug's health and safety saga, because I'm guessing he didn't suddenly improve?"

"Well, we patted him awkwardly on the back, but that was really all we could do." She knew she'd messed up where Doug was concerned, but it was only now she found herself telling her father about it that she realised just how badly. Because she knew what his next question would be, and she also knew that she didn't have a good answer.

"As you were so worried about him, did it never once occur to you to seek help?"

Audrey couldn't meet his eyes, so full of shame she might have collapsed had she been standing up. Nonetheless there was an explanation for that and she was going to have to give it.

"Well, it did, but what could we say? 'Hey, we're worried about Doug because since we told him the girl he's crushing on was evil he seems to have fallen into depression'? How were we supposed to say that? It's not like we could prove they were evil, so as far as anyone we could tell would be concerned we would be considered..." Audrey broke off as she realised there were many words that could go next, none of them flattering, and all of them true.

"So let me see if I have this right. You didn't tell anyone about Doug because you were worried about being accused of slandering someone. Of all the stupid things I've seen... I expect this sort of behaviour from your grandmother, but I thought you knew better. Despite what you may believe there are things more important than keeping face. By the grace of God nothing bad has actually happened, at least where Doug was concerned, but that's no thanks to you."

"I know father." She did know it too, and that hurt, a lot. Not quite so badly as utterly failing Jane as a friend, but a close second.

"Right, you know what, I think I'm going to talk to him." Evie looked around. "If only to see where I stand. Oh, wait, he's with Dopey and the other dwarfs, I'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Audrey and her father both looked back to her, having all but forgotten that she was there.

"Well, now who's being stupid?" Audrey asked her. "You know that if you want to be in any way close with him then you're going to have to deal with the seven dwarfs at some point and you know what, they're actually pretty nice, though I'll concede that Snow White can be a pain to deal with if she's around, and there's really no time like the present. You might have a bit of trouble at first but they'll warm to you soon enough. I'll just have to make them like you."

She forced herself to her feet, practically pulling her father up with her, and placed her free arm around Evie's shoulder and quickly spied Doug, and as Evie noted he was surrounded by his family. One way or another, she would sort this out.

"Hey, Doug!" she shouted, dragging Evie along (her father had pulled out of her grip and was following at his own pace). All meaningful chatter around them stopped in an instant and Doug turned to face them, and though the darkening skies hid it well he paled considerably.

"Hello," he greeted, looking awkward.

"OK, Doug, Evie, you two need to talk to each other. So talk." She pushed Evie onto him and stood back, turning to face her father. "I feel like I missed something?"

"A minor detail darling but an easy one to fix." He walked forward and whispered something she couldn't hear in Evie's ear at the exact moment Doug introduced Evie to the dwarves. Audrey had to admit that for one so clueless her dad could choose his timing well – now even if the dwarves had the thought to be nasty to her they wouldn't dare to make so open an affront to any of Auradon's kings, which meant Evie had ample time to charm them herself.

And if Evie could so easily charm her father (a feat that sometimes Audrey wasn't sure _she'd_ managed) then the dwarfs shouldn't be too hard. But first Evie had to get past all this awkwardness with Doug and if left to their own devices then Audrey suspected they would still be standing there at her eventual coronation (though she doubted either of her parents would give up their crowns for a very long time). So she decided to prod them in the right direction.

"You know, there's another party in a little while, you two should totally go. Don't you think they should Bashful?"

"Well... I suppose..." the dwarf spluttered.

"You can lounge around and see if you can really connect again."

The conversation between Doug and Evie turned to whispering but going from expressions Audrey felt that it was going quite well. She snuggled back under her father's arm and watched the two (she hoped) lovebirds staring into each other's eyes still trading whispers at high speed.

Then they leaned back a little and Doug asked, loud enough that Audrey could hear: "So how about it Evie, would you care to accompany me to the swimming pool?"

And that was where it went horribly wrong. Audrey saw shock in Evie's face quickly turn to alarm and then horror as she took a few steps backwards.

"Evie?" she and Doug asked at the same time.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't."

With that Evie turned and ran for the school building, and after a quick look between each other Audrey and Doug headed off after her, Audrey again dragging her father with her. Still, Audrey doubted that Evie would be hard to catch, after all she was heading for a side door and Audrey was reasonably certain they were locked.

Or at least they would've had Carlos not been on the other side to let her in before heading out himself. More through luck than anything they made it to the door before it closed again and followed her in.

Doug eventually caught up with her outside of her room, Audrey and her father a moment or two after.

"Evie, what's wrong?" asked Doug.

"I just can't go there with you Doug. I'm sorry, I wish I could, but I can't." Tears ran down Evie's face making a complete mess of her well made up eyes.

Audrey finally released her father and pulled Evie into a big hug, rocking her and gently rubbing her back until she stopped crying. She felt a bit silly doing it but if it helped then she could live with that.

"OK Evie, let's get you cleaned up." Audrey said and steered them inside Evie's room. "Come on Doug, I think this is at least a two person job. Father, you too."

Audrey sat Evie on one of the beds and sat herself down next to her and Audrey was extra careful to ensure that there was as much space between them and the caged miniature dragon that someone had for some reason decided this was a good place to store as possible.

"Evie, please, tell us what's wrong?"

"I can't, it's... well, it's a little embarrassing."

"Embarrassing?" Audrey tried to keep her voice as sympathetic as possible.

"Well, it is now that I've realised what Doug was actually asking me, but I'm afraid that I still can't. It's something I don't feel I can safely discuss with people, OK?"

Audrey stepped back, defeated. She knew that if she tried to press the issue any further Evie would retreat even more and she'd get nowhere. She was just going to have to let Evie deal with it for the moment. She went passed her father and stood next to Doug, giving him an 'any ideas' look.

At that point Mal stormed into the room, Lonnie close behind her, looking like she could quite easily kill someone. Audrey watched as she took in each of them in turn, noting the ever increasing surprise.

"Hey Mal, Lonnie?" Audrey ventured. She really didn't know how to cope with Mal, and her now one-sided love for Ben didn't help matters in the least. Doug also greeted them before Mal glomped Evie and gave them all an accusatory look.

"Alright, what have you done to her?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out." Audrey held her hands up in an attempt to look as non-threatening as possible. The last thing she wanted was for Mal to get the wrong idea and curse her.

Doug gave his brief account of it before there was a flurry of movement, ending with Lonnie falling on Mal's bed.

"What, she's just a tiny lizard, right?" Lonnie asked, and Audrey realised she'd attempted to get close to Maleficent while everyone was focused on Mal.

"Just because something's smaller than you doesn't mean it can't sting deep. She learned that from me, and I'd like to think I left a lasting impression." There was something nice about hearing her father telling other people about his heroic exploits. Mal however did not seem to find it so amusing.

"What's this Audrey? Another one of your relations come here to insult me? OK Philip, out with it then, let's see what you've got."

"Audrey, what's going on?" Her father was back into stern-voice mode again.

"Mal and grandmother didn't exactly hit it off. Or more precisely, they kinda did and then I got in the way."

He walked over to Mal and knelt before her (Audrey was too shocked to even consider gagging).

"Well I hope you will not group me in with my mother-in-law. After all, she's not the hugest fan of me either."

Sometimes he really was maddening. Audrey knew that there were tensions in her family going back to before she was born, because Grandmother Leah and Grandfather Stefen had only had their daughter back for a few hours before the wedding, and they didn't even see her for that. And the fact that both Philip and the faries refused to use her mother's real name didn't help matters. While his reasoning for it might've been different for him, as far as grandmother was concerned it was like they didn't consider Aurora to be her daughter at all, and it's fair to say that's something of a sore point for the old queen, who hated having to give her up. And amidst all that Aurora and her parents had a difficult time bonding, indeed Audrey had a better relationship with her gran than her mother did. But the notion that her father might actually consider that to be a valid topic for discussion... She had to stop him.

"Mal, I assure you we're not here to insult you, sorry about that by the way, we're here to try to help Evie. It does seem to have backfired, but it was done with the best intentions."

"I asked Philip for relationship advice."

"And he gave you bad advice?" Lonnie asked, pulling herself off Mal's bed.

"Not bad. But there are certain things that they didn't consider. As they've not been on the Isle I can't really hold that against them."

"What things?"

"Doug asked me to go to the swimming pool with him."

Mal winced, and Audrey started to wonder if the term 'swimming pool' meant something radically different on the Isle than it did here. But surely Evie would realise if it was dangerous they wouldn't use it as a party venue.

"I am not seeing the problem." Lonnie piped up.

"The problem is..." Mal began, then her face took on a look of shock as she spotted the door. "Well, that! Carlos, what happened to you?"

Everyone looked to the door, and sure enough Carlos was standing there with Jane, and they were utterly drenched, in fact deluged was probably the better term.

"I think Chad just tried to kill me."

* * *

 **An2:\** Well, that was about three times the length that I thought it would be, and Audrey still has a way to go on her self-written apology list. I'm extending its projected length to six chapters - I suspect of very varying size.

By the way, please tell me if there's a formatting error. I've already had to reverse an issue where for some reason the second half of the document went into bold print.


	3. Add Carlos and Jane (and hugs galore)

**An:** Like the characters I too have an apology to make, along with a bit of an explanation. My PC has died completely this time meaning I'm back to using the thing that's narrower than by handspan, and while this is fun for me to write it is considerably harder on this thing.

Also, I had trouble getting it just right, and it still feels stupidly rushed (and that's at more than 7000 words). I don't know what it was but this chapter didn't want to come for me. Maybe it's the PoV, I don't know.

 **This is now T rated.** And there's a reason for that: if you're uncomfortable with anything higher than the K+ it was before then please turn back now.

Also, I got a bit carried away with the hugging, hence the chapter title.

* * *

Carlos could not remember having ever had a better day, well, if you discounted the whole nearly being roasted alive by an evil fairy in dragon mode. He was being welcomed as one of the great heroes, everyone wanted him to dance with them, to tell him how brave he was, to be around him in general, and yet it felt decidedly wrong.

Carlos wondered if it was a case of seeming too good to be true, after all the only time he'd ever been made to feel like he mattered was when he'd met and befriended Evie, and when Dude would curl up in his arms, but that wasn't quite it. Closer to the mark was the stark reversal of everyone's opinions, though he knew little of what the adults had thought of him personally. The absolute truth though if he was being honest, was that a part of him felt the student body had been right about him and his friends before.

Mal had wanted to get the wand and everything they'd planned and done was to that effect - a list that included cursing a security guard, twice, and putting the almost king under a love spell. The fact that their classmates had no way of knowing that they'd done those things was all but irrelevant in Carlos's mind. Then once stealth had failed their plan had changed into taking the wand by force, which again the students had no way of knowing, and if they had known it Carlos would be very surprised if they would be so happy with him right now.

For their plan had gone wrong in two ways. Firstly Mal had chickened out when the opportunity first presented itself, not that he blamed her (it's not like he wanted Maleficant to win after all, he was just caught between different evils), and secondly they'd all neglected the possibility that someone else would make a grab for it. He suspected his own prior position as scum-of-earth would now pass onto Jane, though maybe not to the same degree - everyone only thought of her as being guilty of reckless endangerment rather than treason after all and the thought of Jane the Outcast made him sad; but for some twist of fate that could've still been him, and possibly should've.

Carlos had never been cut out to be evil and disliked everything about it, but as Evie, Mal and Jay were his friends he'd helped them in their efforts against his better judgement. He didn't voice his disagreement because he knew nobody ever cared about what he thought about anything - his uses were few and menial as his mother was wont to tell him - and he didn't have so many friends that he could afford to disagree with the few he had. And even if he could have got away with arguing about it, he would do anything for them, even try to rob a museum and bewitch a prince, but he held no delusions about any of them doing anything tricksy for him. Well, maybe Evie, or Jay on a good day, but not Mal.

So he found the only quiet spot in the area, the transforming statue, and leaned against it to think, where before long he was joined by someone who'd apparently had the same idea.

"Hey Carlos." There was a tremble in Jane's voice as she positioned herself next to him.

"Hi Jane. Everything OK?" He and Jay had pulled her out of wallow mode and pulled her into a group dance earlier on but he hadn't seen her since. He knew she'd been upset and he had wanted to give her a hug, but had settled for a twirl.

"You mean apart from the fact that my attempts to beautify myself managed to bring an apocalypse upon us?"

"Yes, apart from that," Carlos clarified.

"Still not so good to be honest." She continued as Carlos gestured to her to go on. "My mother was always telling me to be beautiful on the inside rather than the outside, and what was on my inside was so ugly that she unleashed a monster in an attempt to fix herself."

"If it makes you feel better my mother suggested I present Dude to her for her collection. I told her to get lost by the way."

"No that really doesn't cheer me up. When was that anyway?" A horrified expression suddenly crossed her face. "Don't tell me Cruella escaped too."

"It was Saterday morning via video chat, just before the family day 'celebrations'." Carlos's tone had dropped considerably at the mention.

"About that... You should know that we defended you as well as we could. It was your friends we were convinced were evil. We just didn't know what to do about you so we did nothing." Jane placed a hand on his shoulder. "Er, that sounded better until I said it out loud."

Secretly Carlos thought it might have been for the best that they did nothing. He wasn't sure how he'd have reacted had everyone been nice to him but continued to spite his friends, especially Evie, and he had been complicit in everything they'd done.

"I love my friends Jane."

"I know. That's partly why we did nothing, because we didn't think it would work and it would break your heart in the process, though others deciding that it wasn't worth the effort played its part too."

Carlos wasn't surprised that people had decided he wasn't worth helping, if anything he was shocked whatever conversation Jane had been in about him had lasted that long at all.

"Mal, Evie and Jay know you love them Carlos. Can I tell you something?"

"If you like." While he wanted to avoid the crowd he was always happy to listen to some _one_.

Jane sighed and turned so that she was facing towards him, though he was still looking forwards. "I don't think anybody loves me."

Carlos's heart went out to her, he could remember that feeling all too well, but after more thought he struggled to believe it.

"What about Audrey? She seemed to like you."

"We were close a while back but things happened and partly because she spent every moment she could with Ben but mostly because I was too scared to talk to her about them our friendship ground to a halt. It looked like it was getting better, I comforted her when she cried herself to sleep following the tourney game after Chad went to bed..." Jane trailed off wistfully. Carlos did not need it explaining to him why Chad hadn't been the one holding his sobbing 'girlfriend', though he was a bit surprised that he wasn't even in the room; Carlos had assumed without evidence that Audrey's relationship with Chad was basically her using him the way certain Islanders used Frollo's daughter in order to feel good about herself before Frollo's unfor... scratch that, very fortunate death (the differences being that Chad was a willing participant and he was fairly certain Audrey wasn't paying Charming or Cinderella for the privilege of doing so) (he also wasn't sure what happened to the daughter now that he thought about it). He did not say any of that out loud however.

What he actually said was "So what happened?"

"Well, Audrey's paying attention to me again had largely coincided with Mal giving me better hair, though with hindsight that might have been because with it I'd finally worked up the nerve to sit by her, and when Mal removed it and everyone, Audrey included, laughed at me, I was heartbroken, and late that night it was my turn to cry. Now Audrey is nothing if not proper, it was drilled into her from a very young age, and she burst in to try to help me but after apologising for laughing, which I accepted as I'd probably have done the same had she ended up with this hair, she just sort of stood there awkwardly as I bore my heart out, in fact she seemed distracted by my mirrors and so when I'd finished and she told me essentially to stop trying to make myself perfect and just be beautiful I had little doubt it was from a mixture of propriety and honour and possibly even a sense of feudal duty, not any genuine care for me."

"You cannot expect others to instinctively know what you want Jane, you have to tell them. I suggest next time you see her you turn her to face you and tell her you're finding your friendship to be one-sided. I'm sure it's not intentional. Though from what I'm hearing, neither of you seem to know how to befriend the other. What about Mal?"

"What about her?"

"She liked you, really she did."

Jane snorted. "Do you hear the past tense words in that sentence Carlos? While she did ask my mother to be lenient with me I think I've burnt that bridge. I wonder what she thought my mother would do?"

"Your friendship may be damaged but not beyond repair. It's going to take a bit of effort, true, but I think it can be done. She'll punch me for telling you this but she feels an affinity for you because you're the same species. And she'll beat me up for telling you this but Maleficant was well, not a very nice mother, indeed she was almost as bad as mine. Her preferred method of punishing Mal for not reaching her unattainable standards of evilness was to shut her in a closet for hours or in at least one case days at a time. But I think she's astute enough to know Fairy Godmother wouldn't do anything like that to you, even if her teaching material does leave much to be desired."

Jane tilted her head down until she was looking at the ground.

"Your mothers were really that bad?"

"Terrible. And the worst part is, for all the things that mine's done to me, I still love her."

Carlos found himself being turned around before being shut in a bone-crushing hug.

"Carlos, you listen to me, you are worth more than a hundred of that woman and I have no doubt that now that you're safely in Auradon you will get to know what truly loving people are like and will find someone new to love who actually loves you back and will not have to see Cruella again."

Carlos knew she meant that in a kind way, but to him it was a reminder of a horrible truth - as bad as it was the Isle was his home, and he could never return again. The only thing that cushioned the blow was that the best thing by far about his old life was Evie, and she was here too. And so he cried, and Jane hugged him ever tighter for a few moments.

"Does that upset you so much? I'm sure if it meant that much to you they could find a way for you to speak to her..."

"No!" Carlos cut off, looking around half terrified that she'd appear. Startled Jane pulled away.

"What's going on?" Jane asked.

"When we declared our desire to be good on world television, we basically ensured that we'd be killed if we ever set foot on the Isle again. But it has been my home for as long as I can remember so I have mixed feelings about that." Carlos seriously hoped she didn't want to continue talking about the Isle.

"Yeah, what was that about anyway? Why did you even have that conversation?"

Well, at least she wasn't asking about the Isle.

"Maleficant had got it into her head that if she took your mother's wand for her own and merged it with her rod then she could use it to control all magic so before we came here she asked Mal to steal it. Jay was happy to pull off the heist of the century and Evie and I went along with it because Mal asked. Then as time went on we grew to love this place and while we feared what our parents would do if we didn't fulfil their wishes, we were here and they were there on the other side of a magic barrier, so Mal relaxed into her dates with Ben, Evie started using her brain the Evil Queen had told her not to do, and I told my mother that I would not be giving her Dude. Then Family Day happened and it became apparent that nobody in Auradon wanted us here, and we had to think our stay here would not be a permanent one. So though we hated it, we went back to the wand-snatching plan. Except when the moment came we couldn't do it."

"Huh." Jane looked away. "I guess that really puts the hair business into perspective." She stared into space for a moment before looking back at him. "You know Carlos, it's easy for us to do good, even if people like me occasionally do something really stupid, but I think doing what's right when you're not even sure what that is, and when everyone is waiting for you to do wrong, that's far more heroic. In my book you four deserve waxworks in the Hall of Heroes at the museum."

"Thanks Jane." They stood there awkwardly for a bit, neither knowing what to say. Carlos wasn't used to being complimented and Jane wasn't gilb in the way that Audrey, Ben or Chad were.

"Well, I've been um, impressed, into helping out at the after party so I should probably get over there before they're all set up, maybe you should come and see me when it gets underway, it could be fun." Jane gave him her best 'please say yes' look.

"What, uh, sure, if I can I will."

"Yay. Well, see you later Carlos, bye for now."

"You too."

Jane walked away leaving Carlos with the great feeling that he'd just made a new friend.

That did of course leave him at a loose end at that exact moment and they were in that in-between time where the dance party had finished and the after party (which he suddenly realised he didn't know the location of) was yet to start. So for lack of anything else he went to his room and changed into something warmer, he was used to the cold of course but that was no reason to be any chillier than he had to be. For a moment he wondered where Dude was, before remembering that Ben and Jay had taken him out for a walk - apparently there was some mundane tourney related stuff they needed to discuss in private before Ben got too inundated with paperwork to do anything else and Carlos wondered, well hoped, that Ben was prepping Jay as a replacement captain.

Dude's absence meant Carlos truly had nothing to do except find out where the celebration was and after a quick drink and a trip to the bathroom he resolved to ask when he next saw somebody and started towards going outside again.

It was one of those moments where it seemed farce was the general order. First he slipped on a banana skin, no real problem there but still annoying. Then he fell and ended up with his hands in wall paint, and found himself visiting the hallway bathroom just to wash the paint off - he'd prefer not to have bright pink hands (and who thought allowing Audrey to choose the hallway colour scheme was a good idea?) if he could avoid it. He exchanged a quick 'hi' with Lonnie, who was waiting nervously outside the girls' and went in.

Carlos hated being in there. It was like whoever had designed it didn't consider its users' safety at all, and he didn't feel all that comfortable trusting that nobody would come in and ambush him. He doubted that the Auradon kids would, but Maleficant escaped, who's to say that nobody else did?

Still, he mustered his courage and hoped for the best, though he checked all the stalls and his eyes often flicked to the mirrors, the only decent feature its designer had come up with.

It was true that nobody attacked him while he was there, but when he left Lonnie called out to him from where she was still standing outside looking very pale.

"Carlos, is there anyone still in there?" Lonnie indicated the boys' room. "I know it's the boys' room and all but the girls' has been um, hijacked by people who are how do I put this, celebrating in an unwholesome manner, and I'm uh, not feeling so great. So is there anyone else inside?" She was wincing.

"No there isn't, why? You gonna sneak in?" Carlos had been leaving anyway and really didn't care what Lonnie got up to as long as it didn't affect him so didn't mind either way, but it seemed a bit mischievous for an Auradon kid (except someone like Chad, but Lonnie wasn't like him, at least Carlos didn't think she was). Then he remembered he still needed to find the party. "Hey Lonnie, you don't know where the after-party is do you?" He asked her.

"Since you asked, yes I am while I still can, but I wouldn't if someone was in there. What was that about the after-party?"

"I agreed to meet Jane there later," he told her as she hobbled passed him opening the bathroom door, "but then I realised that I don't have any idea where abouts 'there' is."

"It's in the gym opposite the science rooms' windows, the ones with 'Bowls and Pools' written over the gate." She hovered in the doorway while they spoke. "By the way could you please not tell anyone about this?"

"Thank you, and of course I won't - I'm no snitch. Bye Lonnie."

"Bye."

That was probably one of Carlos's top ten most embarrassing conversations (he suspected it probably was for Lonnie too), but it was productive because he now knew where to go. That building was a part of the school he hadn't visited before but he doubted that would be a problem. He made his way to the nearest exit (which for some reason had all been sort of locked so that they could only open on the inside) and was about to go outside when he saw Evie bolting towards the door from the other end and though it wasn't exactly light she looked to be in some distress, so in a moment of inspired goodness he held the door for her before slipping out himself, just turning round to notice three more people slip through the door: Audrey, Doug and someone he didn't know personally but had seen at the coronation and thought was King Philip.

He was still a few minutes early but that didn't bother him. Besides, if he slowed down then he'd have time to get trapped in thoughts about how bad (in both senses) their plan to steal the wand had been so he headed over to the Bowls and Pools building anyway. His first thought, it looked much bigger up close than he'd expected. His second thought, the front door was barred with an right-facing arrow nailed to it saying 'Entrance This Way'.

He followed the wall until he reached an emergency exit that had been blocked open and had a 'Entrance Here' sign posted over it. And he walked in. And as panic overtook him he realised that the 'Pools' in the building's title did not refer to one of those games played with balls and those narrow wooden lances (he'd heard them called 'cues', but he'd also heard less reliable sources call them 'wooden dicks' - he doubted that was their real name but until he was certain he'd say nothing) but to a large pool of water, and Carlos wondered what in the world the kings and queens of Auradon were thinking allowing one of these things anywhere near their children's school and not for the first time he wondered if they were as good as they liked to claim.

"Oh hi Carlos, you're early. We don't expect anyone this soon, at this point everyone who's coming is usually saying goodbye to their parents." Jane bounded over to him and Carlos gave her a minute to realise what she'd just said. "I guess that's not really a thing for you is it? Sorry."

"Hello Jane, I might sound like an idiot here but, shouldn't the party be somewhere safer?" Carlos asked, casting worried looks around.

"What do you mean? This is perfectly safe. Come along, I can't wait to show you everything." Jane grabbed his hand and pulled him along showing him almost every streamer that had been hung, every banner unfurled and every balloon inflated. They'd just moved onto the drinks stall when it happened. Carlos and Jane had been sharing a joke about whales (well, Monstro specifically) when they'd been grabbed and before Carlos knew what was happening they were being flung backwards. He tried to regain grip but it was no use and he fell into the water taking Jane with him and a smug Chad chuckled like he was enjoying a good joke, and Carlos's last sensible thought was disbelief that Chad hated them that much (him perhaps but Jane?).

Jane's comment of "Chad, when I get out of this I am so telling your mother" and Chad's subsequent laugh as he left the room were lost to Carlos's ears as panic set in. He could feel his clothes getting heavier by the second as he spluttered in the water. The closest thing to a swimming pool on the Isle was the giant vat housing the island's 'fresh' water supply that was used to very publicly murder people, a process that involved tying the victim to an anchor and dropping it in, and while Chad had not used an anchor the fact that Carlos couldn't swim rendered the point moot. As his clothing increased in weight it became increasingly difficult to stay above the water and his panic was making it difficult to breath, and he desperately reached out for something, anything, that could potentially help.

In the back of his mind he knew that grabbing onto one of Jane's shoes as she started for the ladder wasn't the best thing to do but in his defence he was terrified.

Jane turned to see what Carlos was doing grabbing her and Carlos could see several expressions cross her face in quick succession as she realised that he not only couldn't swim but was also caught up in a panic attack. A moment later Carlos felt one arm wrap around his ribcage and another around his waist before she kicked them to the corner where the ladder was.

He scrambled out - a most lucky escape, and Jane followed him up, sat him down on the tiles and rubbed him through his panic as he held onto her for dear life, constantly muttering 'It's OK' and 'You're safe' and other nonsenses until he got his breathing back under control.

"Thank you," said Carlos as he pulled back from Jane, looking down before realising that Jane's soaked dress had gone rather see-through and quickly looked up again. "Take my coat," he added sliding it off himself.

"You're most welcome Carlos, I'm glad I could help," said Jane. "Um, won't you be cold?"

"Yes, but I would be anyway and I can find more clothes, and right now you like me need something dark and thick enough to be opaque." Carlos replied.

"Oh my." Jane suddenly realised her predicament. "Um, thanks I guess." She took the garment and Carlos heard her put it on, not looking down until he was certain he wouldn't get an eye-full. If this ever got back to Jay then he'd think (and not so subtly suggest) Carlos was mad for not taking the obvious opportunity but frankly that was the last thing on his mind right then.

"So Carlos, you can't swim?" Jane asked.

He shook his head. "Nobody on the island can. Well, except Ursula, and I guess Captain Hook. Probably the woman captured by the Rescuers too but we don't talk to her if we can possibly help it. Anyway, nobody learned how while on the Isle."

Jane looked horrified.

"Carlos, I assure you that even though we planned this party while thinking some of you were evil, it was so not our intention to make you feel it wasn't safe to attend, the possibility that you couldn't swim and therefore would be excluded just didn't occur to any of us." Jane got back to her feet and Carlos quickly followed. "Just one slight thing though, why if you couldn't swim did you come here?"

Carlos gave her the full answer.

"When we spoke earlier I didn't know where the party was. Then Lonnie gave me the name and location of the building but I assumed it meant..." Carlos mimicked playing pool with his arms, "then I arrived and discovered otherwise but you'd asked me to come and I felt we'd become friends so I thought I shouldn't leave right away."

Carlos once again found himself with Jane's arms around him.

"I'm so happy you wanted to see me that much, but can I suggest you start caring more about yourself? Come to think of it, can I suggest you learn to swim at some point - we Auradonians like our pool parties and I would hate for you to have to miss out any more than you have to. Now..." Jane pulled them both up "let me return you to your friends. I'm sure you'd much rather be with them than me anyways."

Carlos wanted to do the polite thing and tell Jane that no, he was very happy with her, but he'd just had a lucky escape (his second this very day) and in every way that mattered Evie was his sister, and he was super close with Jay too, and Dude. All he wanted in that moment was to hear their voices (or where appropriate, whinnies), see their faces and thank every deity he could remember the name of for his still being alive to meet with them.

So polite though it might've been to lie Carlos said nothing as Jane led him across the grounds and through the of Auradon Prep until he was standing in Evie and Mal's doorway, with a lot more people inside than he expected, and once he was spotted all chatter inside ended.

Mal asked him what happened.

"Chad just tried to kill me."

At those words pandemonium broke out inside, with Audrey (what was she doing there?) and Doug in disbelief, Lonnie going into shock (panicked breathing and all), Evie rushing over to pull him into a hug muttering nonsenses to herself and Mal... Mal was holding her spellbook in one hand and lifting her mother's sceptre with the other. Only Audrey's father maintained anything resembling composure, and even he was shaken by it.

"I think you're overstating things just a little," said Jane, her meek voice nonetheless carrying through the hush. "Chad may be a jerk but he wouldn't have thrown you in the swimming pool if he knew you couldn't swim. Though I'll concede it was really callous of him to leave straight after pushing us in without making sure we weren't in any real danger."

"He pushed you into the swimming pool?" Mal and Evie both asked simultaneously, outraged. Their reactions after that though were rather different. Evie preened over Carlos and Jane like they were injured ducklings while Mal flipped through her spellbook.

"Cure for Anthrax, Cure for... Appendicitis, forward a bit, Cure for Baldness, bit more apparently, ah, Cure for Boils, I think I can adapt this one to what I need."

"What are you planning?" A nervous Lonnie asked her. "And don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

"Yeah," said Jane, "it's not like he doesn't push me in the pool at every opportunity. Or a moat. Or a pond."

Audrey gave Jane a horrified look.

"I'm going to 'cure' Chad of his _balls_ , with a very painful spell that will make them fall off."

"Isn't that a bit excessive?" Lonnie asked, a little calmed down but not much. "It's not like it was that bad a prank, I mean, while I'd have stuck around to make sure nobody had hit their head on anything or something and would've rescued him as soon as it was obvious he was in trouble, I'd probably have pushed them in too. It's not like it's an unfair assumption to think that everyone can swim."

"I warn you Lonnie, one more word..." Mal was seething.

Carlos and Jane on the other hand were shivering.

"Mal, do you have a spell for dry clothes in there anywhere?" Carlos asked.

"What? Um, sure, gimme a sec." She flicked through the book. "Here we are." Mal fixed her gaze on them. "Impose, swear oaths, replace their wet clothes."

There was a zap of magic and Carlos and Jane found that they'd changed - into more wet clothes.

"I think that was the wrong spell." Evie supplied helpfully as they dripped on her, but she was too concerned to care.

"OK, I can fix that. Impose, swear oaths, remove their wet clothes." Carlos's and Evie's eyes widened in alarm as they heard the exact wording of her spell, and the zap of magic stripped both Jane and himself, revealing him in all his scarred 'glory'.

There was silence for a moment until Audrey said what all the Auradon kids (and her father) were thinking.

"Uh, despite what gossip might say I'm not familiar with naked men, no really I'm not, but those marks aren't normal are they?"

"No, they're not," Doug replied, still staring. Carlos supposed at the very least he was making it more comfortable for Jane - nobody noticed her with his damaged body next to it. And Carlos's scars also drew attention away from his crotch for which he felt he should be grateful.

"Carlos, who did that to you?" Audrey asked.

"I... I really don't want to talk about it. Mal, please, find me some clothes."

"But Carlos, if you don't tell us then how can we help? Is it someone at this school or-" Lonnie added on.

"Oh please," said Mal. "It's hardly a big secret. A small handful of those marks maybe came from CJ or from the Gaston twins, but nearly all of them come kind courtesy of Cruella."

And once again the room was in complete silence as Carlos wondered if it was possible to fall into the floor with everyone's attention firmly on him.

Mal seemed to realise how uncomfortable he was under all those gazes as she said "Hey, don't you people know it's perverse to stare at a naked guy? Lay off."

"Sorry Carlos," said Lonnie sheepishly. "It's just, I've picked up a few things that suggested you people didn't have the best relationships with your parents but this... If it was so widely known then didn't the islanders do anything about it?"

"Well, technically they did do something," Carlos muttered. "Was it CJ or Freddie that was running the betting pool on which one of my body parts would be caught in those traps next? Gaston's twins would strip me down and have me examined to see who won, then try to mug the winner, well, unless it was Shan Yu or someone like that. I thought being looked at in that way was behind me when I came here, please don't reinstate it."

"Very well," Doug forced himself to look elsewhere until he was staring at the lizard, "but you know we'll have to tell the king. You cannot go back there for the holidays Carlos."

"That's OK, I imagine Mal's told him most of it already. Besides, I thought it was already established that I couldn't go back? Please tell me that's not seriously being considered?" Carlos started to hyperventilate.

Nobody paid any attention to Doug's "Huh, I guess Ben is the king now isn't he?" as they were far more worried about Carlos.

"Of course nobody's planning to send you back there." Audrey rushed over to him. "At least nobody sane and contrary to popular belief there are sane people running Auradon. Oh, I dare say Chad's fuming somewhere that his popularity has taken a hit but as he proceeds to throw a slow-motion temper tantrum he will only make himself look like an idiot and if Charming doesn't do something about him soon then Cinderellaville will be screaming 'Long Live The Republic!' so I wouldn't worry about him if I were you. Anyway, back on topic I think there's a higher chance of the new king sending soldiers to the bridge to keep you out of the Isle rather than in."

"You think?' Carlos looked up at her.

"I trust it. You are heroes now Carlos, proper heroes. You don't belong on the Isle and because of your new hero status even if someone was foolish enough to propose it then well..." Audrey pitched her voice as if addressing a large crowd, "Renowned and Esteemed Representatives of Auradon, if the system thinks it can send Carlos down to that infernal place, without a trial I add, then all of you are in danger too." She returned her voice to its normal tone. "So you see, they wouldn't dare to try that."

"So you mean I'm safe?" Carlos hoped.

"Yes," replied Audrey and Carlos flung his arms around the princess all but collapsing onto her as she hugged back.

Nobody paid much attention to a by now approaching calm Lonnie asking Philip if he was happy that his daughter was hugging a naked guy, but his response that he was rapidly gaining the impression that it wasn't the worst thing she'd hugged that week got a laugh from everyone.

"Found it." Mal looked up from her spellbook. "Beware forswear, give them something to wear."

Until that moment no-one knew that magic itself could have a sense of pity, for Carlos and Jane were suddenly fully clothed, and not carrying clothes as any arcane scholar would've told them should've happened. Granted Jane was in a bright red tuxedo and Carlos was in an over the top super frilly dress with bows and ribbons shaped into valentines but even so at least they were wearing something.

"OK, what was next..." Mal muttered to herself. "Ah yes, castrate Chad Charming and before anyone says something he's lucky I'm not dunking him in the pool Isle style, chains and concrete weights attached."

"What!" Everyone who wasn't an Isle kid burst out, but it was Philip who responded first.

"Mal, please tell me that dunking someone on the Isle doesn't mean tying somebody to the counterweights for the machine that regulates the water supply."

"I'd be lying if I told you that. It was Frollo that came up with it originally, the Isle's execution chamber where he sent people who he didn't like and didn't fear reprisals over. We slept easier after Anastasia's son, who I never really hung out with because he was as big a fail at being evil as his mother but unlike her was built like Shan Yu, tied Frollo to the clanger of his own bell with twenty seconds to midday, but the water tank which in black comedy fashion we referred to as a swimming pool still saw use occasionally. Usually by Gaston, or Jafar. So as you can imagine we get a bit, edgy, about drowning people."

"Oh." Lonnie sat on Mal's bed and took some deep breaths. "Well, I don't think that's what Chad had in mind when he pulled the prank."

"You are of course correct Lonnie." Evie turned to face her. "Mal, the correct response here is a silly prank in return, not anything that causes lasting damage. To say nothing of that being a not good thing to do."

"Very well Evie." Mal's eyes were focused directly on Carlos. "I'll settle for, turning all his white shirts pink."

"You're going to put a red sock in his laundry?" Audrey asked.

"I was going to use magic but that'll work too. What do you think Carlos?"

Carlos was briefly taken aback - Mal had never asked him for his opinion on anything before.

"Well, I don't really care about getting revenge on Chad, I just want to be with the people I care about."

"We care about you too Carlos." Evie and Mal both wrapped him in a hug - one from each side.

"So how did you get out?" Mal asked. "I'm guessing Chad didn't come back."

"Jane pulled me out."

"You did?" Mal turned to Jane as she went red. "You did! You are such a great girl Jane. I'm not going to give you the hair back because I don't think you're robust enough for it at the moment, but I hope we could be friends properly this time." Mal gave Jane a hug, and Audrey joined in too.

It began a pandemic as everyone hugged those that they cared the most for. Jane was hugging almost everyone, indeed Mal and Audrey were reluctant to let go of her ("I'm a bit busy now, but tomorrow we have to talk properly, you're hurting Jane.") and Carlos was also hugged by almost everyone.

"So Lonnie, are you feeling any better now?" Carlos asked while she was holding him. "You did look pretty bad earlier."

"Oh, are you not feeling well?" Audrey asked her as Carlos and Lonnie pulled apart.

"It's nothing, really." Lonnie went very red. "I wasn't feeling so wonderful earlier but now that at least seems to have improved. I think I might've been feeling sick from worry rather than illness."

"And that's improved since you arrived here?" Doug asked, incredulous.

"I'm still worried but I don't feel like I'm gonna hurl or faint or pee at the moment. Carlos, why did you have to ask about that? Didn't we agree not to speak of it?"

"Oh, did that include you being less than stellar? Sorry, I assumed you only meant, the bit after that..."

"Well Lonnie, we're still not friends but let me assure you that you have nothing to be scared of here." Mal turned her head in Lonnie's direction, but kept hugging Jane. "You know, I can understand why you Auradonians are such fans of hugs."

"So can I," said Carlos and Evie together.

"When did you see Lonnie anyway?" Mal asked. "I assumed you'd been with Jane all evening."

"It was just before I saw you Mal." Lonnie spared Carlos from answering.

"Did you try making empty apologies to him too?" Mal shot her a look. "And come to think of it you didn't look sick when I saw you."

Lonnie turned even redder. "That's because I kinda spent the time between dry-heaving in the boys' room. Nothing dispells fake sickness like trying to trigger it, well, unless you manage it for real but even then you usually feel a bit better afterwards."

Carlos noted the brief smile that had crossed Mal's face before she reverted to her 'impassive' look.

"That's not a happy thing Mal," Carlos admonished. "That's a 'poor Lonnie' thing. And by the way no she didn't apologise to me, not that I felt she had a case to answer; I'd barely spoken to her before."

"No, not that, as a concerned acquaintance I really am worried for her health." Mal finally released Jane and turned around. "I was just happy that my geography was better than I'd thought. That's all."

"Guys, seriously, it's nothing. It's not like none of you have ever been really nervous." Lonnie looked around.

"True," said Audrey also releasing Jane and placing one hand on her hip, "but none of us have ever dry-heaved over it, and in the boys' room of all places? Lonnie, what's wrong?"

"I did a bad thing Audrey. Mal and Evie were my friends and I abandoned them, and unlike you I did it not because I thought they were evil but because in the heat of the moment it seemed like the 'cool' thing to do, and even knowing I was doing wrong I didn't stop and... And then they became heroes, very publicly renounced anything evil, and Carlos and Jay carried on like nothing had ever happened between us, no 'case to answer' indeed. And I felt ill because I knew I didn't deserve it." Lonnie hung her head. "But it gets worse. Mal basically told me that I'd done the non-romance version of leading her on, and while it wasn't my intention, it was exactly what had happened. I guess I just hadn't really considered what our friendship meant for..."

Lonnie walked over to Mal.

"I swear I will do whatever I have to do to be worthy of being your friend again Mal, however many fights it takes, and I will be on your side in them next time."

"Uh, I don't think there will be any fights Lonnie, unless another villain gets loose," said Audrey. "There certainly won't be any talk of isolating them now. My soon to be ex boyfriend might try something, but he won't find any support."

"Oh, are you going to break up with Chad?" Doug asked. "This isn't because he held me for dear life is it, I'm pretty sure he was scared."

"No, that's not the reason, though it didn't help his case much. Between all the stuff with you and Evie and all the stuff with Carlos, I found out that Chad... I wouldn't think to have a boyfriend that bullies my bestie, and while I might have been an even bigger failure at friendship than Lonnie, Jane is still mine."

"Really?" Jane's eyes were shining.

"Always."

The two not so much hugged again as fell on each other and there was a lot of whimpering and quietly muttered words that Carlos couldn't hear.

Carlos turned back to Lonnie again.

"Well, Mal might not be ready to forgive you yet Lonnie, but for what it's worth I do. And if you want to be her friend, then just act like one, you'll get the bread soon enough."

Carlos noticed that Doug and especially King Philip weren't exactly contributing much to the conversations, and saw that Evie had pulled the pair of them into a private discussion about something or other.

Mal however marched straight over to Audrey and turned her round.

"What do you want Mal?" Audrey's voice was weak, but that may have been from the light crying.

"This isn't easy. I just wanted to say Princess that anyone who likes Jane can't be all bad and... listen, I'm sorry about the whole Ben thing."

"You know what, that's OK," replied Audrey. "While you were the girl he chose, it's not your fault he doesn't love me. But I still love him... and he dumped me, in front of hundreds of people, not to mention everyone watching on TV. My love meant that little to him... Mal, of the two of you, you're currently the one I'm happier to see."

And thus Carlos saw the most awkward hug of the evening as Mal held a shaking Audrey.

"Well, isn't that a pwitty wittle sight. Don't you agwee wittle doggie?" All heads turned to Jay's voice, as he stood in the door with Dude.

"How did it go with Ben?" Carlos was genuinely excited for him. "Did you talk about tourney?"

"At first, but we were interrupted." Jay looked strangely thoughtful.

"Oh, who by?" Mal asked. "If it was Chad then please tell me you decked him."

"I wish it was Chad, that would've been easier. It was Ben's parents."

Carlos saw that Mal wasn't the only one to wince. Philip, Audrey and Lonnie did too.

"Please tell me they didn't interrogate you about me?" Mal all but begged.

"No, that too would've been easier, to say nothing of more fun. They wanted to discuss the Isle."

* * *

 **An2:** So what did you think? At the very least did I make any stupid mistakes?

I don't know when the next part will be, but I do at least know what I'm aiming for with it. What I don't know is what machine I'll have to do it with.


	4. Jay's sprinkle of Gimdark (if it loads)

**An:** Ok, I think it might be working again.

There are many things I'd like to apologise for myself here:

Firstly the long delay. Getting into Jay's character was like wrangling a bear and I'm still not completely happy with it. For the same reason this chapter's ending might feel a bit rushed. And also if it seems OOC - I tried, really.

And secondly that I got the name of Cinderella's town wrong last chapter. I can't do much about that at the moment with everything being so tempramental but it is on my to-do list.

Also, I'd like to say that while I have seen the film and most of the webisodes, my knowledge of the books comes just from what I've seen on the internet and half of that I'm ignoring anyway. As a result, I had to make Jay's stories up (I'd have had to anyway but I thought I should warn you, while anything that contradicts the movie itself is a definite error on my part [like getting Cinder's city name wrong] and I'm paying lip-service tp the shorts/webisodes, don't expect perfect compliance with the books).

Anyway, on with it.

* * *

Jay was having a good evening. A terrible day yes, but a good evening. Audrey had been an excellent dancer when she'd danced with him (though Jay was astute enough to realise that she'd dance with anyone if it showed up Ben) as was Evie. Jane, who he and Carlos had all but dragged onto the dance floor, had been technically proficient but her shyness kept anyone from noticing. Several cheerleaders had danced with him too, and while Jay wasn't sure when they'd found the time to change into their uniforms he wasn't about to complain.

And even Lonnie had seemingly overcome her apparant dislike for him (and was she a lesbian? Zoophile? Obscure thing he didn't know the name of? He'd never heard anything so odd as 'just not into him' - on the Isle expressing a lack of complete satisfaction with someone you'd just messed around with was the norm, but refusing to let them try was just not done) enough for one dance, before she claimed a need to 'get out of there' and left the dance area all together.

At that point he'd been picked up by Ben, and just for a laugh they'd waltzed their way through the Matchmaker song, managing to remain in hold the entire time. They made quite a sight for the people still there to watch but if there's one thing Jay had learned in his early life it was that strength was worth little without agility. His footwork was probably all wrong for the specifics of the dance, but he was balanced and was on beat every time, and given that Matchmaker was substantially faster than the average waltz that was saying something.

When it was over Ben had told him that he had some things he actually needed to discuss and so the new king joined him as he took Dude for a walk.

Jay was happy to go over various formations and tactics for the tourney team, but they were soon joined by others, and sadly it wasn't their teammates.

Jay in general held a low opinion of the adults of Auradon, especially the members of its ruling classes. This was instilled in him by his father and as such was something he wished to get over but it was problematic, because while his father's motivation was as usual really bad he felt his dislike for them was completely justified, and the events on Saterday hadn't raised his opinion of them one bit (most notably Belle's reaction to Mal - Audrey might've been a bit of a 'suck-up' but Jay would bet his hair that Belle hadn't passed out upon meeting her). And neither did Fairy Godmother's unworthy excuse for schoolwork.

So suffice to say that Ben's parents were not people that Jay wanted to see, acknowledge or talk to.

Sadly they didn't seem to get that.

"Is everything OK?" Ben asked them when they appeared in his path.

"I'm not sure," Beast replied. "I need to talk to your friend here."

This did not bode well.

"Oh? Do you have anything to discuss with me, ex-king Beast?" Jay tried to keep the irritation out of his voice.

Belle gave her husband a quick elbow.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I want you to tell us all about life on the island."

"Why? You want to gloat?" Jay stared him straight in the eye. "I suggest that if you want to find out so badly then you try living there. Who came up with the idea for that hellhole anyway? Did the Coachman somehow find his way to the ruling council? Or is it as I suspect - that the rulers agreed to it so that they could use it as a dumping ground for anyone they disliked."

"I assure you that everyone on that Isle was there in full accordance with applicable law-"

"Written by you and your fellow kings and queens for the purpose of disappearing people you don't like."

"I'm getting tired of this so this will be the last time. We cannot use it to dump people just because we dislike them, and even if we could it's unworthy to think we would. Everyone on the isle was tried in the heroes' assembly, and the trial videos are available for public viewing so it can be demonstrated that they had a fair hearing."

"OK, so everyone there received a fair trial huh. I don't recall such a courtesy. What, did you wheel me in when I was a baby and subject me to the judgement of god? Or some other such thing more worthy of my father than of the supposedly good?"

Beast's expression changed from angry to pained.

"OK, there was a slight oversight. I admit we didn't consider the possibility of villains falling in love and having children-"

"You don't need love to have children Beast, and if even a tenth of the rumours of your own youth are anything to by you know that all too well."

"While that might tech..."

"Hang on." Belle interrupted her husband. "What rumours would that be?"

"For starters the one about Beast, Gaston, three dumb blondes and a sheep." Jay told her before turning back to her husband (who was making the universal 'not true' gesture). "And so when this frankly obvious oversight came to light, what did you do about it? You can earn at least a modicum of respect if you can make an honest answer that isn't 'nothing'. Ben, you remember anything?"

"Nothing springs to mind." Ben also looked pained. Jay hoped this wasn't Ben's idea; Evie told him just before Ben had caught him that she was going to try and track down King Philip, and while Jay may have wished her luck in her frankly foolish endeavour, he had no desire to spend any longer in the company of any of Auradon's rulership than he had to. Ben had been an exception as he'd appeared to be a genuinely nice man but if he was responsible for this conversation then that opinion would change (Audrey was also an exception on the grounds that she was really hot, but while Jay wanted to roll in the garbage stacks with her he didn't want prolonged discussions).

Put simply he loathed Auradon's ruling council. Beast, Charming, Philip, Aurora, Rapunzel, Naveen, Jasmine, accountant guy that had briefly been engaged to Mulan that he couldn't remember the name of, if they were rulers then he did not want to see them. He was a bit unsure about Snow White as she appeared to have lost her kingdom but as she seemed to be unpleasant anyway if her current job attitude was any indicator he supposed he didn't want to see her either.

Not giving him a trial was not quite the point. After all, the law that they extolled the virtues of only allowed a trial for someone formally accused of a crime and while he did indulge in the occasional theft, he was fairly certain that nobody in Auradon had ever accused him of it or of anything that constituted any sort of criminal act.

"Was it even discussed what to do with us?" Jay asked.

"Of course," said Ben. "Alice brought it up in the Heroes' Assembly, and the ruling council agreed to a commision to investigate what should be done. They suggested a census which I think was carried out, and then the group's chairman King Stefan died. After that they would always answer that it was being looked into whenever anyone asked, usually Esmeralda or Tiana. You should be happy to know that they weren't any happier with Queen Aurora's complete unwillingness to take on the task she'd inherited than I was."

So it was Sleeping Beauty was it? No, Jay thought to himself, if any of the monarchs cared that much they could have had it reassigned. For that matter the heroes could've raised a much bigger fuss if they'd wanted to.

"Aurora's not a bad woman..." Ben was continuing, "...but her and governing do not go together all that well. For the most part she leaves the management of her kingdom to her mother who's also pretty bad at it, and rarely turns up to council meetings. She never wanted to be a princess, never mind a queen and it shows. Audrey thinks her mother will keep her throne 'til her death, I think she'll give it up as soon as she can get away with."

"And you think that's good enough?" Jay had finally snapped. "Here's an idea, let's drop anyone with a regal title on the isle and spend the next ten years pretending to do something about it. Come to think of it, why did anybody think that resurrecting a bunch of supervillains in the first place was remotely sane? That was you wasn't it ex-king Beast, any comment?"

"It made sense at the time. Hell itself couldn't contain your father, and it wouldn't try to contain The Coachman or Chernabog. And Maleficent seemed to have some deal with it too. We decided we wanted our villains where we could keep an eye on them." Beast sounded proud, despite the obvious issue.

"And how did you keep an eye on them, because I don't remember ever seeing an Auradonian inspector?" Jay asked.

"..."

"That's what I thought." Jay finished by flurrying his arms. "Furthermore, I don't recall ever seeing Chernabog on the Isle. Which if he won't die means he's loose in the world doesn't it?"

"Well, OK, yes, he's not on the Isle, because we trapped him elsewhere and considered it too risky to try to move him." Beast was getting increasingly agitated, pleasing Jay greatly.

"But I'll spare you on that. What was it about the Isle that you most wanted to know?"

"That was why I started this conversation wasn't it... I suppose I want to know what it was like to live there."

"You want to know that?" Jay asked. "Seriously?"

"No, heavens no, I don't want to know it. But I need to."

"It's harsh," Jay told them. "I assume given you're the one that sent it all that you're aware of the food supply?"

"Yes..." The Beast looked grim.

"But as bad as the food is, it's what we have and some of the fights over it, well, people have been killed over bread so stale it had to be broken into swallowable chunks by hitting it with a rock."

"What happened?" Ben asked.

"Well, it was a while back so I might get the details wrong but the gist of it was Mother Medusa's daughter Madison had somehow managed to reach a food shipment first and took, as was normal, the easiest bread to reach and she got mugged on her way home by Gaston and well, you know better than most what he's like."

Beast winced. "Dear god..."

"What did Medusa do?" Belle asked, though she looked decidedly uncomfortable too.

"For food? She had fresh meat for a few days, and she still had more children to forage for her."

"That's not what I meant. I wanted to know how she reacted to the news of..." Belle trailed off. "Fresh meat? But if the Isle only gets scraps then..." Belle's mouth slowly dropped and though it was difficult to see in the darkening sky Jay swore she went paler. "She didn't? She wouldn't?" Yes, definitely paler. "Please tell me she didn't she dine on her daughter's corpse."

"OK, I won't. So, anything else you've wanted to know? Or feel like you should know?"

"Was anyone nice over there?" Ben asked.

"Anastasia and her son Ash; yes she really did name her son for the phrase 'cinders and ashes'. Well, at least they were nice. Oh, and she had another son too but he's not relevant to this story, but is also close to useless at being evil, the difference being that in his case it's less for a lack of trying." Jay knew exactly how to pick a story for a specific audience, and this one was certain to elicit the most horror from them.

"They 'were' nice?"

"Anastasia and her son were romantics, true believers in the notion that love conquers all, which marked them as rather odd among the islanders. Anyway, Ash had this huge crush on a girl named Charlenne. With me so far?"

They nodded.

"But Charlenne was, well, one of Frollo's 'girls', that is to say the basically slaves that he was pimping out. The last thing he wanted was for her to have a boyfriend, especially one not paying him. He threatened to ensure Ash met with an 'unfortunate bathing accident' and the hands of his thugs, his usual method of dealing with people he didn't like and Ash's response was to challenge him to a duel, describing him as 'spineless, wretched, craven blister-puss' and calling him, in front of half the population of the isle, to fight him with his own hands. Still with me?"

More nods.

"Ash was hoping that Frollo wouldn't be able to send his goons to deal with him after that without it looking like he was scared of a then twelve year old. A twelve year old built like a rhino, sure, gossip held that Shan Yu was probably his father, but still a twelve year old. And indeed Frollo didn't send anyone after him. Instead, remember how I told you about the belief Ash and his mother had in the power of love made people consider them weirdos?"

"Yes..." Ben prompted, hoping he was wrong.

"Frollo used that to convince the islanders that Anastasia was insane, and not in the cool way. The Hunter tracked her down outside father's shop and a mob came to 'play' with her. She was to be given a twenty second headstart before they set off in pursuit in a fun game of 'Lynch That Retard'. She survived that day, but only because for unrelated reasons Maleficant was in a foul mood and stormed across the 'course' just as the pursuers were due to step off. She never got over it though. Since then she's barely spoken a word to anyone."

"And Ash?" Beast asked, though he was sweating a bit.

"He gathered his own angry mob, composed mostly of people that didn't like Frollo any more than he did. Freddie, that's Facilier's daughter, and I were the only youngsters among it, and stormed Frollo's clock-tower where he eventually cornered him on the westward face's minute hand. He then knockout-gassed him, declaring that Frollo would only get the twenty seconds notice of his death that his mother was supposed to receive. So he tied him to the great bell and woke him up with twenty seconds before..." Jay demonstrated the bell ringing with his hands. "I know I shouldn't have heard the crunching sound from where I was, but I swear, I did."

"And what about Ash?"

"Was still standing up near the bell. He wanted to make sure there was no last second escape."

"And the girl?" Belle asked.

"To the victor the spoils." Jay noticed their hanging mouths. "The same rule applies to all ownership on the isle. Of course, Ash could no longer bear to look at her, don't know about the others Frollo had in there. Or anyone really. Ash has never left his hard won tower, instead staring out from the rooftops. His mother may not be mad, that's up for debate, but he sure is now."

"So," said Ben, "is there anything you liked about the Isle at all?"

Jay was quiet for a moment as he thought about it.

"I guess the unfriendly camradarie. Don't get me wrong, all the street gangs would beat each other up over the smallest things, indeed sometimes they'd beat up their own members, but..." ...out of mutual fear but Jay wasn't going to tell them that... "...we would never abandon someone to The Coachman or Mother Gothel or anybody like that. Me and Freddie became not exactly friends but, I guess the term's 'acquainted' when we were hiding together in one of the storage boxes in her shop when Mal's mother was in a bad mood. Years later I got to return that when she was trapped outside when Gaston was having one of his rage moments. I invited her in and we hid in my, well, it passed for my bed."

"You were in bed with a girl?"

"Yes, but we were both too scared out of our minds to do anything. That said, if someone on the Isle asked about it, we had done everything. Especially if that someone was either one of our fathers, though Mal figured we were making it up. Never mind that if I tried doing anything that involved sharp movements in that thing..." Jay trailed off as he pictured being crushed, then gave a thoughtful sigh. "Maybe that's how Mal figured we were making it up."

"But the two of you still weren't friends?" Belle asked.

"We were in rival gangs. I hung with Mal and she was with one of Hook's children - he has a lot. Though Mal and Freddie actually got on quite well; they were friendly rivals constantly trying to outdo each other rather than the typical rivals trying to lay each other out."

"Do you love her?"

"Who? Freddie? No," Jay replied. "If you meant Mal then hard to say. I'd be majorly upset if something happened to her but I don't want to kiss her."

"So what was your dad like?" Ben asked, probably eager to change the subject again.

Jay thought about it.

"Not too bad really. Compared to some of the other villains my father was fairly good. He's the one that taught me how to pick locks, pockets, and generally how to steal."

"And that's a good thing?" Beast was giving him incredulous looks.

"On the isle? Absolutely. If you haven't got the message yet, stealing well is all but necessary for survival." Jay rounded on him. "Most of the villains don't care enough about their children to teach them any useful skills. Well, Evie's mother probably believed she was at least but while sewing might be slightly useful nothing else she was teaching her helped much. Maleficant's hard to judge. Sometimes it seemed like she was trying to teach Mal, but most of the time she seemed to expect her to understand things by instinct, and then blamed her when the inevitable happened and she didn't. Cruella wanted to keep Carlos dependant on her while at the same time not wanting to do anything herself... it's a wonder he's still sane. I think the absolute worst example of parenting on the isle however was when a goblin sent her five year old son to father's shop supposedly to try for a job, but on closer inspection her request was a er... what's the phrase... a 'Letter of Bellerophon'."

"A what?" Beast asked.

"It means he was unwittingly delivering his own execution order," Belle answered, her fingers fiddling with her gown. "Hoping you're mistaken, was that what you were trying to say?"

"Well, it wasn't so much suggesting dad should openly kill him, few people would be so direct with dad, so much as it was suggesting that it wouldn't be tragic if he met with an unfortunate accident."

"That's more like a Letter of Uriah although to unclear even for that," said Ben. "Or we could just go with the modern name, 'Please Shoot the Messenger'. Or better still, we could accept that it doesn't matter what we call it because it's still horrible and arguing semantics is how you derail discussions in order to forget what's important."

"So, admitting I might not want to know the answer to this, did he die?" Beast asked.

Jay had to think for a moment. He struggled to keep track of everyone. Just what had happened to... Ah, right.

"Yes, but my dad wasn't responsible for it. Frollo took a dislike to half-goblins and had him drowned. I think Frollo hated pure blooded goblins too but was too scared of Maleficant (who thinks of them as her property) to do anything. You don't poach from Maleficant. Ever. As some clowns insisted on discovering the hard way. Now, are we done or would you like to hear some of the truly horrifying stories?"

"There's worse?" Beast asked. "Can't these people just settle down to watch the sunset and smell the flowers?"

"The sun can't get through the magic barrier very well and there are no flowers to smell. Not that many of them would if they could. And yes, it gets worse but please don't ask me to say anything else."

The fact that the sun never truly shone on the Isle got through to them.

"Not enough sunshine..." Belle muttered. "No flowers... how did... but surely..."

And something in Jay finally snapped.

"Ben, if you'll excuse me, this conversation is over."

Jay stormed away, Dude following after him. How dare they, all regal and resplendent, even try to _think_ about what it was like for him. What did Ex-Queen Belle know of hardship? Sure she'd endured a month or so of genuine peril, and several years of minor teasing, but how does that compare, really? And what of Beast? He'd been cursed a long time, sure, but he hadn't lived every day in fear (at least Jay didn't think he had). Even Cinderella with her step-mother had a better time of it than he and his fellow Isle children had.

In fact, as far as Jay could tell among Auradon's heroes and rulers, only those who'd had to deal with Frollo for ages like Esmeralda had any real reference point for what the Isle might've been like. Maybe a few of the others but none of the royalty at all. And certainly none of his own generation. Because Auradon was paradise - a land in which such things were thought to be consigned to history. History was of course prone to forgetting minor inconveniences to storytelling like the Isle technically being within Auradon's borders.

Jay ached for his life, a feeling so overwhelming it defied belief. Half bitter happiness, half raw sorrow. The desire to hit something rose in him like never before, and for the briefest of moments he caught himself considering kicking Dude, before instead scooping the dog up and cradling it like Fairy Godmother said you should cradle a lost child (Jay wasn't convinced she was right, his attitude was more 'take it to the guardhouse and let them deal with it').

He was useless in this state. He had to find Mal and fast. Or failing that Carlos. Someone who could calm him down.

It was an uneventful trip to Mal's room, where he was sure she'd be by now, but he was very surprised by the sight when he got there. Mal was there, but she was talking to Audrey of all people, and it appeared to be heartfelt.

But that wasn't the most surprising thing. Four words, five syllables, fourteen letters. Carlos in a dress.

He was still full of fury, but it took a backseat behind mirth at the absurdity of it. He would be milking this one for months to come. He started paying a bit more attention to what everyone was saying.

"...everyone watching on TV. My love meant that little to him... Mal, of the two of you, you're currently the one I'm happier to see." It seemed Audrey was talking about Ben. Jay didn't know whether to feel sorry for her or not. On the one hand, sure it was upsetting for her but on the other, frankly if that was the worst she had to endure then Audrey had had a good deal. Being dumped, however publicly, cannot compare to the Isle, which was growing back into his mind again.

OK, it's settled. Audrey needed thicker skin. She was actually shaking with grief over could've-beens-with-Ben. On the Isle this would've resulted in a very nasty blow to a very sensitive body part, though having never administered it to a girl he had no idea which body part was used. Boobs perhaps? He made a mental note to ask Mal about it when the others weren't there.

But while he didn't know exactly what people did to girls to snap them out of silly reasons for 'oh woe is me' attitudes (and occasionally un-silly reasons too), he was certain that it was not pulling the crying girl into a hug. Isle Mal would never have done that.

But while Jay wasn't exactly happy at the thought of going soft, he knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that the changes this utopia was making to them were for the better, idiot inhabitants aside. Mal being more loving couldn't possibly be a bad thing here, and in truth he'd only heard a tiny bit of the conversation so it was possible there was more behind that hug than 'Ben'. Still, like Carlos's fashion sense it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Well, isn't that a pwitty wittle sight. Don't you agwee wittle doggie?" Jay called into the room, everyone inside suddenly realizing that he was there. Mal and Audrey split apart, each looking awkward.

"How did it go with Ben? Did you talk about tourney?" The question took Jay by surprise for three reasons - one that he'd forgotten that that was what Ben had wanted to discuss with him in the first place, two that Carlos seemed really excited to see him, and three that Carlos was brave enough to say anything while trying to pull of an inverse-Mulan.

Nonetheless he felt he should at least attempt to answer.

"At first, but we were interrupted."

"Oh, who by?" Mal asked. "If it was Chad then please tell me you decked him."

Jay could tell there was a story there but he'd have to get it another time. For now he just pictured himself smashing that smug grin off that self-righteous, arrogant, lazy, pompous princeling. He found the thought somewhat therapeutic.

"I wish it was Chad, that would've been easier. It was Ben's parents." Carlos and Mal both grimaced, as did several of the others.

"Please tell me they didn't interrogate you about me?" Mal all but begged.

Despite still feeling, he guessed the word was 'violated' by them, Jay still smiled at the thought of telling them all the most embarrassing things about Mal at some point: the time she'd mesmerized Facilier for long enough for him to rob the store by giving him a striptease. The time she'd sneaked Carlos away from one of Gaston's sons by impersonating a banshee - shrill voice and all. The time she'd been super caught short when her mother took her out for a mother/daughter session of 'causing chaos' and in a desperate bit to both impress her and not wet herself she'd gone in a baby's buggy. The time when Mal and Freddie had been a little too into their rivalry. Or maybe the time when they'd been raiding the Evil Queen's castle (which always earned Mal faint praise from her mother, which was usually better than the alternative) and Mal had stopped to retch in the Evil Queen's still-being-made dinner. Actually, maybe he should consider telling Evie about that last one...

He would never actually tell Ben and his family those things though if for no other reason than Mal had a full library of embarrassing stories about him too.

"No, that too would've been easier, to say nothing of more fun. They wanted to discuss the Isle."

"What did you tell them?" Carlos asked after a moment.

"Well, just enough that I hope they have a few sleepless nights and I thi-" Jay was cut off by Evie giving him a side-on hug, presumably sideways so as not to squish Dude but why was she hugging him at all? He looked questionably around the room.

"We're having a hug-fest." Was that Jane in that tuxedo? Maybe she and Carlos had been involved in some kinky roleplay? If so then the dress was only slightly stupid.

"Oh well, in that case..." Jay handed Dude over to Carlos, then span Evie into a hug of his own.

This was nice. The warm embrace of a friend was just what he needed to get those painful thoughts out of his head.

Audrey however seemed to have gone mad as she sauntered over to him, not that it was a mad act in itself but it wasn't very Audrey-like as Jay understood it. "So how are you doing you great hero, you?"

Jay was confused. If this was the Isle, he'd have thought she was coming on to him but here that didn't seem likely.

"Are you trying to use Jay as a rebound guy?" Evie asked Audrey. "And if so, shouldn't you wait until you've actually broken up with Chad first?"

"I recall no such courtesy from Ben," Audrey snapped. "But you're right, I should. Luckily I'm not actually trying to seduce Jay, I just wanted to know how my dad would react to it. Sorry Evie but you've got me worrying about that now."

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"Well sweetheart..." Jay's attention was drawn to a man he hadn't even realized was there. "I admit I did try to come up with something that would disqualify him as a worthy suitor for you, but realized that disallowing someone who took down Maleficent was to say the least hypocritical. Chances are I'm going to look for things to dislike about any boy you really like, but only because I want you to be the happiest girl in the world."

Jay didn't catch who it was that gave the "Aww."

Jay decided it was time to reduce the sentimentality somewhat.

"You know, if 'Maleficent defeater' is what you're looking for than it's Mal you actually want Audrey. All I did was back her up slightly. I'm not the equivalent of your dad, I'm... Oh god, I'm one of those elderly fairies." Jay winced from the comparison.

"Actually what happened to those guys?" Mal looked up at Audrey's father. "Why are me and Jane the last magic users in Auradon?"

"I'm not-"

"A massive blast hole in the Isle forcefield says you are. Anyway, what happened to the others?"

"Well," said Philip, "Flora, Fauna and Merryweather accepted jobs teaching young royalty in a far off kingdom. Fairy Godmother is still the same person she always was, though I can certainly understand why some might think otherwise... The Blue Fairy took offence when some idiot posted a crackpot theory that she and The Coachman were the same entity and hasn't since left her star. Genie's still floating around having adventures but for the most part keeps out of the limelight. Same for Tinkerbell and her fairy friends. I don't know what happened to the others." He looked at her strangely. "It is odd now that you mention it. There are a few left though, you're not quite 'the last'. Anyway, Audrey, I meant what I said about wanting you to be happy, but suffice to say that if you come home with him I will have you tested not only for hypnosis and ensorcellment, but also have him interrogated to make sure he is't threatening you. This is not because he's Jafar's son in case you were wondering, but because I observed his behaviour earlier and I wouldn't put it past him to try it."

Jay was about to make an angry retort, then realized that he really did look rather suspicious while harrying Lonnie into a dance earlier.

"Sorry about that by the way." Jay looked at her sheepishly. "Would I be correct in assuming that it's..." Jay fished for the right word, "impolite to coerce or force your attentions on someone here? The Isle doesn't really have that - it's more of an 'anything goes if your tough enough' policy."

"'Impolite' understates it," said Lonnie. "More like 'super creepy'. But as you somehow didn't know it was wrong I totally forgive you, so long as it never happens again. Do you actually have a crush on me or were you just trying to wind me up?"

"I wanted to get to know you. I wouldn't call that a crush."

"Jay doesn't really understand any other method of making friends." Mal supplied. "It made his early interactions with Carlos rather entertaining to say the least."

"So just to be absolutely clear, it's bad to try to force someone to be with you? Even with hypnosis and sorcery?" Jay asked.

"Absolutely," said Doug, who Jay also hadn't noticed until now. "To take away someone's ability to make their own choices... it's one of the worst things you can do to someone. Even aside from the moral aspects of it, I wouldn't be surprised if the Anti-Slavery Act applies there."

Mal was looking at the ground for reasons that Jay knew, as he assumed did Carlos and Evie, but (thankfully) the others present had no idea. If it carried on like this though...

"Yeah, well, as has been pointed out, I'd better go and break up with Chad." Audrey announced. "Lonnie, would you please come with me, thanks to Jay here for the first time in my life I'm afraid to be alone with someone."

"Of course."

"And I'd better go back to my room," said Carlos. "I need to get out of the Cinderella dress." No agrument there.

After saying goodbye the three of them left, taking Dude and Jane (who'd been talked into going too) with them.

Then Mal left because she absolutely had to talk to Ben and Philip said something about wanting to find out from Fairy Godmother just why she'd stopped 'Fairy Godmothering' now that Mal had brought it up.

Which left Jay there with just Evie and Doug.

"So," he said to them in blissful ignorance, "why aren't you at the after party"...

* * *

 **An2:** So hopefully the next chapter will be less dreadful than this one, and up a little sooner. It should because I think I'll manage that character a little easier than Jay. Unless I flip chapters 5  & 6 around... Oh, I don't know.

Also, again, I won't beg for reviews but if you do spot a glaring error, please point it out.


	5. A brief(ish) check in with Carlos

**Disclaimer:** Still not mine.

 **An:** So this was originally going to be the Ben and Mal chapter, but try as I might I cannot get that to work right now so instead we travel with Carlos for a bit in what would previously have been chapter 6. I'm sorry this is taking so long, and thankful to everyone who still bears with me.

I think there will probably be 2 more chapters after this, possibly three, but one of them will be the Ben/Mal stuff that proves I can't write relationships and one of the others I'm still figuring out how to attack.

* * *

Carlos was in a hurry to get out of the dress as soon as possible, ideally without anyone else seeing it - Jay was never going to let him live this down as it was. He sprinted down the corridor, round a bend, down another corridor, and into the safety of his room. So far so lucky - there was nobody in any of the corridors.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he glanced into the mirror and realised that the dress was even more embarrassing than he'd previously thought. He made towards the absurdly spacious walk-in-closet that the dorms had (and he knew something about closet sizes from all the times they'd been the safest places to sleep, or least dangerous more like) to get some newer clothes out-

 _Rattle._

Carlos looked around. He couldn't see anything behind the curtains, under the beds, under the desks, in the bathroom, or in plain sight, and with careful angling around the mirror he discovered nothing was hiding behind his comfy chair.

He supposed he was probably imagining things and continued towards the closet...

 _Rattle._

No, he certainly wasn't imagining that, and in one horrible moment Carlos realised the sound was coming from the very place he was trying to get to. Memories of the Isle flashed in his mind and desperate, Carlos glanced around the room quickly for something to wield. Sensing that something was wrong Dude bolted from his hands.

Nothing.

 _Rattle._

Hands shaking, he backed slowly towards the door.

 _Rattle._

Out into the corridor.

"Carlos?"

Strange, that last one sounded like Jane.

"Carlos, what's wrong?"

Yep, certainly Jane.

Carlos spun around to find Jane, Lonnie and Audrey staring at him, along with a blonde girl Carlos didn't know who'd joined them. Jane was cradling Dude in her arms.

"Carlos?" Lonnie beckoned. "Jane's right, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"There's something in my closet," Carlos told them, trying to get his twitching under control and not altogether managing it.

He wasn't sure how he expected them to react, but it wasn't with the one he didn't know bursting into laughter.

"You know," 'Blondie' choked, "you might want to hold off on closet jokes until you're not wearing a dress."

"I'm serious, there's something moving around inside." Carlos was frantic and they were making jokes about it - maybe it wasn't so unlike the Isle after all.

"Right." Lonnie walked past him into his room as Audrey introduced him to the one he didn't know.

"Carlos, this is my friend Ally, daughter of Alice. Ally, this is The (newly) Renowned Carlos de Vil."

"Charmed. We're playing 'Find Chad', have you seen him?"

Carlos was about to answer that he hadn't when there was a loud crash from inside his room, a girly scream and the sound of something hitting the floor.

"Audrey," called Lonnie, "I've found him."

Carlos looked over and sure enough Chad was on the floor clutching between his legs.

"What did you do that for?" Chad asked, still squirming.

"It's not like I knew it was you when I kicked. Besides, you should have heard what Mal had in mind; at least you're still attached." Lonnie spoke down to him, taking careful care to ensure her dress was never directly over his face as she walked around him, which was a challenge because he seemed to be trying to angle himself for just that event.

"Chad, what are you doing here?" Someone asked - Carlos didn't catch who.

"I'm hiding; it's the last place anyone will look, or at least I thought it was."

"Let me guess, you've finally annoyed someone who will actually hurt you?" Carlos imagined with some guilty satisfaction a Gaston-like figure working Chad over.

"If you have to know I tried to send an er, interesting, text to Ev... someone, but I flicked a bit too far on the touchscreen. I sent it to Fairy Godmother." His attempt to sound tough was ruined by the high pitch of his voice.

"Huh, likely story," said Ally dismissively.

Just then Chad's phone rang. He looked at the number and winced.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Lonnie asked.

"No."

And so Lonnie yanked the phone out of his hand and answered it for him. Carlos heard a lot of indistinct shouting before Lonnie managed to convince whoever was on the other side that she wasn't Chad.

As Lonnie continued her conversation with Chad's caller Carlos turned his attention back to Audrey, Jane and Ally.

"So uh, will you be OK?"

"We're fine Carlos. The bigger question is, are you?"

"I'm fine, but I still need to get out of this dress." Carlos looked at his now usable closet. "Would you excuse me a minute?"

Amidst the "Sure"s there was a "You're wearing a dress? Really? Oh this I have to see," from Chad (still squeaking) who rolled around for a better look before bursting out laughing.

Carlos just grunted in response not trusting himself to actual words and grabbed more of his very limited supply of clothes from the hugely oversized closet, heading into the bathroom to change (since the walk in closet was dark to say the least and the door to it didn't lock, and frankly he never wanted to set foot in one again - Auradon was not like his mother's house and he was safer elsewhere). It felt good to get out of that thing and into some half decent clothing.

He emerged to find yet another three people in his room. One, who had taken over holding Dude, was Fairy Godmother - the woman he wanted to see as little of as possible, and the others...

"Chad, what were you thinking? I'm so, so disappointed in you. Do you realise how lucky you are that you sent that message to the Fairy Godmother? Because she's willing to keep it quiet; had it gone to anyone else, especially, god forbid, Evie, it would've been shown to the general public." Cinderella was evidentially not impressed, and neither was her husband standing behind her.

"So?" Chad asked. "I stand by everything I said, and last I checked I was entitled to my own opinion."

Lonnie flipped through Chad's phone history. "You really think Evie's an 'arrogant pug-faced, conniving cockroach'?" she asked before turning back to the rest of the room. Was it him or did she suddenly seem paler again. "It goes on but I don't feel comfortable saying it if the rest of you don't mind." Ah, that was probably why Lonnie was suddenly looking slightly ill.

"Yeah, OK. I may have got carried away saying what I'd do to her, but I described her perfectly."

Carlos wondered if it would be wrong to give him a running kick to the head.

"It's true that you haven't technically said anything libelous," started Ally and Chad nodded along. Then she went on, "However, Audrey, what would you say the chances are of Cinderellaburg abolishing its monarchy within the next year?"

"If this gets out I'd say 100%."

"Not just that," said Lonnie. "They're fighting words. I wouldn't blame Evie if she started looking for someone to represent her on the platform, or the lists I guess. I'd be half tempted to volunteer myself if I wasn't scared of failing."

"Good to know Mal and Evie can always count on your everlasting support Lonnie," said Audrey with a wry smile. "But for the record, I've seen both you and Chad fight - you'd probably kill him in the first bout. If nothing else he's currently the one writhing on the ground."

As Lonnie gave something halfway between a smile and a sigh in responce (Chad couldn't scowl _more_ than he already was) Ally again brought up the subject of abolitionists in Chad's city removing its monarchy.

"They won't do that," said Chad. "Sure they moan and groan occasionally but they always come around, and if not then they should learn to respect their betters. Isn't that what you're always saying?"

The room had gone very quiet, and Carlos's 'mad parent - run away' senses went into overdrive as he watched Cinderella glare down at her son.

Instead it was Charming who actually spoke.

"Certainly not. Look at me Chad. Look at me. Watch my lips very _very_ carefully and listen to something you should already know and very obviously don't." He didn't shout, but his voice carried the stern authority of someone who seldom needed to. "We _have_ to be better than other people _in order_ to have their respect. Not the other way around. I've tolerated your antics for far too long and the people are fed up and angry."

Chad gave them a look that said 'So what?' and Carlos wondered if he could possibly be any stupider. Lonnie asked Carlos if he minded if she sat on his chair, to which he agreed only half paying attention - Chad's idiocy had him gripped.

"Fairy Godmother," Charming continued, "I will be returning to Cinderellaburg once I've met with King Ben tomorrow, assuming no critical kingdom business, and you will no doubt be pleased to know that I will be taking my idiot son with me for a month. I fear he needs an education in subjects you're not able to teach. Hopefully by then he will be a better man."

"Oh, come on," Chad turned to the girls. "You agree with me don't you?"

Jane and Ally looked awkwardly at each other, Audrey meanwhile walked straight over to him.

"Chad, I say this as a friend. Grow up."

"You love me really."

"No, I'm sorry Chad, but I love Ben. You were just, convenient. That was wrong of me and I'm sorry, though just to be absolutely clear you owe Evie an apology for that alone..." Audrey noticed that Chad had started drooling at around the same time Carlos spotted it, and realised he could see under her dress. She stepped away and went on. "But I do care about you, teenaged boy tendencies aside. I hope that one day you'll fulfil your potential and be the great man you can be, and I hope nobody thinks I'm being presumptuous but luckily for you second chances are _so_ in right now, but you can't do that by acting like you've misplaced your sixty-fifth favourite toy."

Carlos had another moment of displacement at the notion of someone having 65 toys to rank.

"So second chances are in huh?" Chad forced himself to his feet. "Wanna make out?"

"Chad!" Audrey cried. "I told you. I still love Ben. Going out with you was a mistake, it was unfair and I'll say I'm sorry for that as often as I have to, but I don't want to be that way with you."

"Oh." Chad drooped and Carlos could see his better-than-thou attitude finally breaking. "Oh, OK. I guess I deserve that. But growing up is hard. Why can't I be a child forever?"

"Well, for one, because you've developed a cruel streak that you did not have back when you actually were a child. The Chad I used to know wouldn't harm an imp, you would raise yourself against a saint." Audrey moved to place an arm round him only for him to slither out of it and fall into Jay's desk chair. "Chad, what happened to you? Where's the boy who brought the joy and laughter to our Christmas parties? Who chose hanging out with me, a friend, over drooling over my mother - the literal woman no man can resist? You used to make people feel good about themselves, and each other. Now..."

"Yeah," said Jane coming over and kneeling down in front of him. "Do you remember when we used to go out for ice-cream?"

"What?" Chad looked as confused as Carlos felt.

"When we were kids and people, well, mostly one person in particular, would tell me I wasn't a proper fairy, or someone called me 'Roundhead', or just made me feel ugly and worthless in general, and you would take me to that ice-cream van that went through Sycamore Drive and we'd always get some on our noses, laugh about it, have a fun time, and for once I'd feel special. Now you just throw me into bodies of water. I miss the old Chad."

Was ice-cream some cold weather equivalent to sun-cream that people actually enjoyed using? Carlos made a note to ask about that at some point.

Chad looked at Jane sadly. "I remember wishing you'd let me beat the stuffing out of that harpy for you."

"Harpy?" Lonnie asked.

"It's what I was going to call him when I challenged him. It seemed appropriate."

"I couldn't," said Jane. "Sure, what he said hurt, but in the end..." she turned to face her mother "...wasn't he right?"

"I don't understand sweetie." Somehow Fairy Godmother seemed surprised at this turn in the conversation, which for Carlos was about the first thing that made proper sense in quite a while.

"We aren't proper fairies are we?"

Fairy Godmother was spared from answering for a moment by a frantic groan from Lonnie as she jumped to her feet before dashing into Carlos's bathroom not even bothering to close the door, just barely making it to the toilet before she hurled for real.

Audrey was at her buddy's side in a flash, holding Lonnie's hair out of her face as much as possible while simultaneously chastising her.

"Why didn't you tell us you were really sick?"

Of course there was no way that Lonnie was currently able to talk in order to answer that question.

A moment later Cinderella was in there kneeling down by her side as well; vomit dripping from Lonnie's chin was starting to stain the queen's highly exquisite ballgown but she didn't seem to care, and Carlos felt like a voyeur seeing her ply her famously gentle hands over the sick Lonnie. And Carlos had heard tales of just how kind Cinderella's hands were - from her step-sisters who while not liking her much did respect her skills. But hearing something was different to seeing with his own eyes and the fact that this was the first time he'd ever seen an adult take care of somebody may possibly have been influencing his judgement too.

Whether it was or not however Queen Cinderella had just become the first of Auradon's adult royalty and indeed first adult ever to have Carlos's admiration for being good. And then a wave of melancholia hit him. It's must have showed because...

"It's OK." Jane placed an arm on his back. "The great queens and princesses have this effect on people, usually it's Aurara because of the enchantments but it's not unheard of for Cinderella. Most boys get like that after meeting one but it always passes quickly enough." She sounded as much like she was speaking to herself as much as him.

Carlos heard shared chuckled from Fairy Godmother and King Charming for some reason.

"I just wish someone would do that for me," Carlos confessed.

"Well Carlos, I think Cinderella would do that for you if the need came up. But you should know... I mean... That is to say..." Jane took several deep breaths and Carlos felt her arm tense and he got the impression that she had to work up her courage for whatever she wanted to say. "You should know that there are others that would do the same for you, who aren't so unobtainable."

What did obtainability have to do with it? Surely anyone who would make him feel taken care of qualified under that description? But the rest of her sentence raised his spirits a little when he realised she was right. His mind instantly latched onto Evie, who he called sister because that was what she'd made herself in his life. Carlos finally knew, yes _knew_ that no matter how much she liked her fabrics she'd happily drop everything for him even if he threw up directly over her (hadn't their hug fest earlier proven that very thing). He thought he should probably do something special for her to show that he loved her too and added it to his mental 'to-do' list. Feeling slightly happier he pulled himself around so he was no longer facing the bathroom and took in other random details of the room.

Then his thought processes had someone sound a gong next to them - did Jane say 'others', as in plural? It was said to be a literal impossibility for a fairy to outright lie (though nobody had managed to conclusively prove that), did that mean someone else cared about him too, or was it possible for them to be honest but wrong?

He cast his mind back what really wasn't all that long to when Mal had threatened to geld Chad (a suspiciously timed squeak from behind made him wonder if he'd voiced that thought aloud but no one else said anything so he wrote it off as coincidence). He'd seen Mal unhappy before, but never before on his behalf (once or twice at his expense though...). Maybe she was becoming his surrogate sister too. Carlos certainly hoped so. Deciding that was probably who Jane had been referring to he thought no more about it.

Indeed the conversation was interrupted anyway as Fairy Godmother walked passed and gave the no longer hurling Lonnie a glass of water. (Carlos didn't know who had Dude right then but hoped for Charming).

"So really, why didn't you say anything?" Audrey asked once Lonnie had taken down some of the drink.

"I didn't want to miss the coronation." Lonnie's voice was hoarse. Carlos could certainly understand that - as an event it was more spectacular than he previously could've comprehended.

"That was hours ago Lonnie." Audrey's voice was soft and also reflected kindness. "Why didn't you tell anyone later on that you weren't feeling well?"

"Yeah," said Ally, whom Carlos had forgotten about. "You could've blamed it on a bad hot-dog." She did not lower her voice to the pitch or volume of the other two.

"And get a poor street vendor's licence revoked?" Lonnie choked out as she got to her feet. "That would... have been wrong."

She was force fed more of her drink and nobody questioned her further until she'd finished it and Fairy Godmother went to get her a replacement. At that point questioning resumed.

"Because there were more imp...ortant things going on." Lonnie told them as she was helped back into Carlos's desk chair.

"Like what?" Cinderella asked.

"Well..." began Lonnie.

* * *

 **An2:** I do not think Chad is irredeemable, but I think it would take longer than the one evening/early night I set as the timescale for this story. And yes I sort of forgot what I wanted to do with Dude.

Oh, and a new addendum on the subject of continuity. This was more or less set in my head over a year ago before even scant knowledge of Descendants 2 was known, and I haven't seen it yet, so that's not part of it except by coincidence either.


End file.
